FOX has thrown away the key on Alcatraz. The J.J. Abrams thriller has been cancelled after one season and 13 episodes.
Alcatraz follows the investigations of police detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) and Doctor Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia). They work to uncover how 340 inmates and guards disappeared from the infamous prison in 1963 and why they’re now reappearing looking just the same. The show also features the talents of Jonny Coyne, Parminder Nagra, Jason Butler Harner, and Sam Neill.
Fueled by a lot of promotion, the TV series was launched in January and drew good reviews and strong numbers. The two-hour premiere attracted a 3.3 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic with 10.05 million total viewers. Opposite some tough competition from CBS, Alcatraz was in second place in its timeslots.
In week two, the demo slipped 9% to a still respectable 3.0 rating with 9.03 million. Week three dropped another 7%. That wasn’t positive but not horrible either but the ratings just kept falling.
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In February, NBC launched season two of The Voice and Alcaraz’s ratings took a big dive. They ropped 18% on February 6th and then another 17% on the 13th. The numbers just kept falling after that.
The two-hour season (now series) finale was in fourth place in the timeslots and averaged a disappointing 1.6 demo rating with 4.76 million total viewers.
The first season of Alcatraz ended up averaging a 2.2 demo rating with 6.74 million viewers — and those numbers would have dropped lower had there been more episodes.
On our FOX report card — which ranks the network’s shows based on demo averages — Alcatraz has a “C” and that just wasn’t good enough to get a renewal.
FOX chose to keep Touch instead but the network stays in business with producer J.J. Abrams via the network’s Fringe renewal.
What happened? It would seem that Alcatraz just wasn’t compelling enough to keep viewers returning week after week. Plus, for the first time in quite awhile, all three of the major networks had really strong programming on Monday nights. Two of the competing shows — The Voice and Dancing with the Stars — are reality competitions and many viewers feel compelled to watch them “live” rather than catch them online or via DVR recordings.
All 13 episodes of Alcatraz have aired and the last episode left viewers wondering what would happen next. Unless the producers decide to share what they had in mind for season two, we’ll never know the answers to the show’s mysteries.
What do you think? Why do you think Alcatraz failed to hold onto a bigger audience? Did FOX make a mistake by cancelling the series? What will you miss about it?
Do a final movie/special & wrap it up for the loyal & interested viewers. We loved it…
Please don’t cancel Alcatraz and don’t cancel Finder.
This disgusts me. .-. Basing an amazing television’s show fate on numbers.
Why have they done this? Another awesome show gets the boot. It seems the us tv channels have no patience…one of the best dramas around, it had so much potential and is so much better than a lot of our home grown uk dramas. not impressed…
I am sooooooo upset. This was a great show. Please bring this back. That got this one wrong.
Fox is stupid. The show was great. If it really had that many problems they should have moved it to a less viewed night like Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday – I don’t watch or record many programs on those nights. They should find a way to record numbers for those who dvr their shows because in reality we can’t always be home every night OR their are people who like to fast forward through commercials.
FOX you suck, bring Alcatraz back!
Shows that require more that two functionally cooperating synapses to follow usually don’t make it. I can’t believe they would leave Alcatraz open ended and at least not close it out with a TV movie to wrap up. The very few things I like to watch on TV they usually take away. Maybe SyFy would be smart enough to pick up Alcatraz , along with Awake. That sure beats that idiotic WWF they show (on SyFy??). Of course, SyFy dumped SGU and Terra Nova just as they were hitting their stride too, so no shortage of good decision making skills… Read more »
I also can´t believe that once again I´m not going to watch my favorite shows because the numbers are not so good. Damn!!!! Why don´t people get involved in J.J. Abrams´s mysteries? Flashfoward, Alcatraz…
I love mysteries, I don´t mind having to wait a long time to get the answers. Well… Apparently only few people have the patience. TOO BAD!!!
I loved the show and watched every week. I liked the mix of past and present, and thought the weekly characters, including the shows regular cast, were excellent. I am wondering if having different story characters each week caused a lack of a regular following. Perhaps a character story line should have blurred into the next week too, and the next character could have appeared part way into the preceeding show. I hope they bring the show back, OR, come out with a theatrical release movie!
Such bad news. That was the best show on tv! The studio got this one wrong.
I can’t believe they cancelled Alcatraz. I am with the others move the day there is nothing on Friday’s. You can’t compete with singing shows!! Hello FOX you know that! Stupid people get to decide what is on tv these days. BRING IT BACK!!!!!
How can you do this to us???? I am not a fan of Network TV and even I was surprised at how much I loved Alcatraz!! It was a fantastic story line! A completely new, innovative idea! Also some fantastic actors!! The storyline was great and there was so many ways you could have gone with it!! WHY WHY WHY???? Please have some second thoughts!!
I hate FOX they canceled my best show ever I want Alcatraz to be renewed please I’m feel so btreaid I’m so sad and mad I want it back my show
FOX is the adult version of Cartoon Network, filled with crappy, obnoxious cartoons. The people that watch FOX have tiny little brains that can’t comprehend a program like Alcatraz that makes you think. Shame on FOX for cancelling this excellant show. I now have no reason to ever watch that channel again. Someone who appreciates great tv should pick this show up and turn it around. I am so disappointed, but not at all surprised. Bathroom humor and reality shows…kind of tells you what our society is really like these days.
I’m sick of reality programming clogging Prime Time. I haven’t watched any of that silly crap since it started, and I was sure it would eventually die off. But the programmers were right: You can’t underestimate the intelligence of the American public, and the genre seems to be as enduring as fossilized saber toothed tiger turds. The crap sells, and it’s cheap to make. I’m actually surprised Person of Interest made it thru the renewal process for another season on CBS, so I guess there’s something to be happy about…
shake my fist at you fox for cancelling Alcatraz